Chapter 54: Humanity’s Research on the Uncanny Creatures

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Xiao Zi had finished reading the documents Ruan Qing had brought. Now, one thing was certain: Ruan Qing’s father was definitely employed by the Bureau of Anomalous Creature Investigation in the area, and not just as a mere staff member, but as a researcher specializing in the study of anomalous beings.

From these papers, it was clear that humanity’s research into these anomalous entities was already extremely thorough. There was a wealth of research even concerning the so-called Forbidden Zones. Yet despite this, no one had deciphered the method to break through the Forbidden Zones; all they had managed was to understand how to avoid wandering into them by mistake.

This, however, was of no consequence to Xiao Zi, for his own forbidden domain could be deployed at will—there was no such thing as accidentally entering or not.

But what truly astounded him was discovering that the Bureau in Tianjing City had an almost complete knowledge of exactly which anomalous entities resided within the city, where they preferred to lurk, and how they moved about. Yet, despite this, no one had been dispatched to exterminate them.

This was intriguing. As he read further, he understood why. These anomalous beings were extremely cunning and tended to stay hidden, rarely causing any real threat to the city’s safety. If the authorities hunted them down one by one, it could spark a large-scale revolt among the anomalous, possibly resulting in a catastrophic event—like a Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Such a disaster would be unmanageable. Thus, the Bureau merely kept a close watch on these entities’ movements without attempting to eradicate them completely. However, should one or two of them become unruly, the Bureau could swiftly respond and eliminate them based on their assessed threat.

But when Xiao Zi came to the section about Ghost Abyss—the subject that interested him most—he was left dazed.

Ghost Abyss was not as simple as he had imagined. According to these materials, it was a phenomenon that had existed even before the current era of resurgence. It had been quietly absorbing humanity’s collective fears for centuries, perhaps even millennia, possibly since the dawn of civilization itself.

All those immense, unfathomable terrors had been gathered within Ghost Abyss. According to intelligence from Daxia, Ghost Abyss was most likely to appear in the Maoguo nation, which explained why Daxia had stationed so many people there to monitor the country.

The details in the dossier were vague—just this much and no more. This was understandable, as no one had ever seen Ghost Abyss with their own eyes. The little information that did exist, Daxia must have obtained through some mysterious means. In short, it was all shrouded in secrecy.

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After casually destroying the documents, he melted into the shadows, now simply waiting for his guests to arrive.

He intended to slowly expand his influence in this city, using the haunted house as a foothold, until its fame reached a certain threshold. At that moment, he would have Wang Hui vanish without a trace, as if the man had never existed.

Then, when investigators inevitably began to dig into the haunted house, they would discover that its owner had been missing for a long time—then stumble upon the corpse. A postmortem would reveal that the owner had been dead for some time.

Thus, the entire affair would be transformed into a terrifying incident, fueling Xiao Zi with a great harvest of fear.

In theory, the plan was sound. The only complication lay with the haunted house owner’s family—but that was no real obstacle. If trouble could not be resolved, then the source of the trouble could be eliminated.

So—the plan began.

Three days later, one afternoon, in a rented apartment in Tianjing City—

“Oh, we’ve already filmed all the infamous haunted spots in Tianjing City. What should our next video be about?” A voluptuous woman stretched languidly on the sofa, looking troubled.

“My dear sister, sometimes you have to think in reverse,” a flamboyant man approached, offering advice.

“Reverse thinking?” The woman pondered for a moment, then unlocked her phone.

“We’ve filmed all the most terrifying places, and so have all the other top influencers. What if we went to the worst-rated haunted house and made a video? Do you think anyone would watch that?”

“I think it might work! We don’t have any other ideas anyway, so let’s just shoot something random—it won’t hurt.”

With a decisive slap of her thigh, the woman declared, “Alright, settled! Let’s see where the worst haunted house is…”

An hour later, that woman—He Yang—arrived with her flamboyant assistant outside the Thrill House. Staring at the rundown establishment, both of them shook their heads.

To be honest, as reviewers specializing in haunted attractions, they’d visited countless haunted houses. Most of them exuded an eerie aura even from the outside, but this one looked utterly ordinary—almost embarrassing.

They exchanged a glance, unable to hide their scorn.

Stepping inside, they saw Wang Hui standing there, smiling at them as though he had been expecting their arrival.

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At this, He Yang was momentarily startled, but quickly reasoned the man must have heard their footsteps and smiled as she spoke.

“How old are you? Already working here?”

“I dropped out of school. Now I work here to earn a little spending money,” Wang Hui replied, his smile unwavering.

A flicker of disdain crossed He Yang’s eyes, but she continued, “We’re influencer reviewers—we’d like to shoot a video here to post online. Is that okay?”

Her tone was playful, her eyes scrutinizing Wang Hui for any reaction. In most places, the staff would be thrilled to have a famous influencer visit, but this young man’s expression didn’t change.

“Anyone’s welcome to play here and take pictures as they please.”

Seeing his calm, He Yang forced a slightly awkward smile. “How much per person? Both of us want to go in.”

“We don’t charge admission.”

He Yang paused, then laughed. “We’re not short on cash. Even if you don’t charge us, your haunted house is what it is—we’re not bringing a special effects artist to spice things up for you.”

She had thought he was indifferent to her fame, but now it seemed he was simply trying to ingratiate himself.

“No, what I mean is, there’s a decibel meter inside. The more you scream, the higher your score—and the more you pay, from five to twenty yuan. If you can go through without screaming at all, you don’t pay a thing.”

For once, He Yang looked genuinely interested and nodded. “That’s actually a neat idea.”

She and her assistant headed inside, but halfway in, Wang Hui stopped them.

“What now?” He Yang frowned, clearly annoyed.

“Nothing, just a reminder: once you go in, you can only exit through the designated way out. There’s no turning back midway.”

At this, He Yang could no longer conceal her disdain. “Me, give up halfway? Are you kidding? I deal with horror every day—there’s nothing in this world that can scare me, least of all this shabby haunted house. Don’t be ridiculous.”

Her assistant tugged her arm. “Let’s go, don’t waste time talking to him. Once we’re done filming, I still have to edit. When this video goes online, this dump will lose whatever reputation it has—the boss will probably fire him!”

With that, the two of them entered, while Wang Hui stood silently behind, watching them with a smile that said nothing at all.